Leading by Example
IN 1911 — A TIME WHEN WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP WERE STILL RARELY HEARD IN THE SAME SENTENCE — the Loretto Sisters and the Sisters of St. Joseph began their work to advance the cause of women at St. Michael’s. As Deans and as professors, they served as key role models for future generations of women and offered an important voice in shaping the college as a place where women and men could pursue the same academic goals. Here are some of those groundbreaking women.
Deans and Notables: Loretto College
Mother Agatha O’Neill
1842 – 1927
When Mother Agatha O’Neill entered the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1866, she had already attended the Toronto Normal School and graduated with a first-class certificate. Thus, when the Institute assumed responsibility for a school in Lindsay, Ont., where young women would be prepared to write the examinations of the provincial Department of Education, she was chosen to teach there as one of the nuns professionally qualified. As a result of her experience in Lindsay, she was determined to bring this standard of education to all the Loretto Academies. When she was given the responsibility of overseeing the educational preparation of the members of the Institute, she strongly promoted the higher education of the Sisters in order to obtain the required qualifications and certification for teaching at every level. She is fondly remembered in the community for her stance in this regard.
Mother Agatha was one of the first promoters of University Federation and was actively engaged in the community’s struggle to establish a college for Catholic women at the University of Toronto. She contributed to negotiations with the university and St. Michael’s College, which were finally successful when in 1911 an agreement was concluded between St. Michael’s and the two Catholic women’s schools in Toronto, Loretto Abbey and St. Joseph’s Academy. Female students could finally be enrolled in a Catholic college in the University of Toronto.
See Mother Agatha O’Neill’s profile in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography
Deans at Loretto College
Sr. Estelle Nolan
Dean: 1913-1932
Sr. Margarita O’Connor
Dean: 1913-1932
Mother St. Margaret Kelly
Dean: 1932-1937
1932-1945; 1947-1949
Mother Mary Aloysius Kerr
Dean: 1945-1947
Mother Boniface Hopkins
Dean: 1949-1955
Mother Angela (Marjorie) McKeown
Dean: 1955-1959
Mother Mary Bernadette Culnan
Dean: 1959-1965
Mother St. Philomena Cassin
Dean: 1965-1967
Sr. Maria Lanthier
Dean: 1967-1971
Sr. Caroline Dawson
Dean: 1971-1975
Sr. Diane Bridges
Dean: 1975-1981
Sr. Mary Frances Jordan
Dean: 1981-1982
Sr. Lenore Sullivan
Dean: 1982-1983
Sr. Johanna D’Agostino
Dean: 1983-1986
Sr. Cate McBurney
Dean: 1986-1989
Sr. Kathleen Heffron
Dean: 1989-1992
Mary Hardie
Dean: 1992-1997
Laurelle LaVert
Dean: 1997-2001
Sr. Mary DiGirolamo
Dean: 2001-2004
Angela Convertini
Dean: 2004-2017
Emily VanBerkum
Dean: 2017-present
Faculty at Loretto College
Mother Estelle Nolan
1912-1914; 1919-1937
Mother Margarita O’Connor
1912-1932
Mother Lucilla Breen
1912-1918
Mother Athanasia Quinlivan
1912-1931
Mother Gertrude Gumpricht
1912-1930
Mother Dorothea Barry
1914-1930
Mother St. Clare McEachen
1914-1922
Mother St. Margaret Kelly
1932-1937
Mother Berchmans Doyle
1926-1941
Sr. St. Stanislaus McCardle, M.A.
1935-1962
Sr. St. Ivan McQuade, M.A.
1932-1947
Sr. Mary Aloysius Kerr, Ph.D.
1945-1947
Sr. St. Magdalen (Loretto) McIntyre, M.A.
1938-1971
Sr. Marcia Smyth, Ph.D.
1941-1955
Sr. Olga Warne, Ph.D.
1941-1968
Sr. Marion Norman, Ph.D.
1940-1968
Sr. St. Francis Nims, M.A.
1941-1983
Sr. Stella Marie (Esther Hanley), Ph.D.
1956-1957; 1959-1973;
St. Michael’s Library 1975-1994
Sr. Mary Madigan, Ph.D.
1972-1982; 1985-1988
Catherine Grisé
Catherine Grisé
Deans and Notables at St. Joseph’s College
Mother Irene Conroy, CSJ
Elizabeth Conroy was born in Dundas, Ontario and received her early education from the Sisters of St. Joseph in Thorold. She became a resident student at St. Joseph’s Academy in Toronto where she completed high school and qualified to teach. Following her graduation, Elizabeth entered the novitiate in 1887 and received her religious name, Sister Irene in 1888. Following her novitiate Sister Irene taught in several Toronto Catholic elementary schools before being placed in charge of St. Joseph’s Academy in 1902. In 1905 Mother Irene was appointed Superior (and Administrator) of St. Michael’s Hospital. There she won the admiration and respect of many outstanding members of the medical profession. During her term of office, she arranged for the hospital’s affiliation with the University of Toronto’s School of Medicine, with the establishment of clinics and courses and examinations by which the medical staff became lecturers and mentors for future doctors. St. Michael’s was well on the way to becoming one of the finest university teaching hospitals in the country.
Three years later, in 1908, Mother Irene was elected Superior General of the Congregation and entered on a whirlwind of construction and innovation which occupied her energies for the next six years. Through her efforts St. Joseph’s College for women was established in 1911 and affiliated with St. Michael’s College. Sisters were encouraged to obtain university degrees to improve their qualifications in the educational field. In 1914 her second three-year term ended and Sister Irene returned to teaching for a time and then served in hospital administration.
In 1926 Mother Irene was again elected to the General Council and during her term she was instrumental in negotiating the purchase of the Christie Mansion at 29 Queen’s Park Crescent for a residence and lecture rooms for St. Joseph’s College. She also supervised the building of new wings at St. Joseph’s Hospital and St. Michael’s Hospital as well as an addition to the Nurses Residence and a new Mercy Hospital for Incurables on Sackville Street of which she later became Superior in 1933. In 1938 she was again elected to General Council even as she celebrated her golden jubilee in community. She died in office on March 10, 1944.
Deans
Sr. Austin McKay Warnock
Dean: 1914-1916
Sr. St. John O’Malley, M.A.
Dean: 1929-1933; 1941-1948
Sr. Mary Augusta Murphy, M.A.
Dean: 1933-1935
Sr. Bernard Tuffy, M.A.
Dean: 1935-1941
Sr. Blandina Hitchen, M.A.
Dean: 1948-1953
Sr. Geraldine Thompson, Ph.D.
Dean: 1953-1960
Sr. St. Stephen O’Connor
Dean: 1960-1968
Sr. Janet Fraser
Dean: 1968-1974
Sr. Rita Marie McLean
Dean: 1974-1979
Sr. Jean Gove
Dean: 1979-1985
Sr. Mary Anne McCarthy
Dean: 1985-1992
Sr. Noel O’Neill
Dean: 1992-1993
Sr. Anne Delaney
Dean: 1993-1998
Sr. Anne Marie Marrin
Dean 1998-2006
Administrators at St. Joseph’s College
Sr. Claudette Loftus
Administrator: 1979-1997
Sr. Conrad Lauber
Administrator: 1997-2006
Faculty at St. Joseph’s College
Sr. Austin McKay Warnock
English: 1912-1916
Sr. St. John O’Malley, M.A.
Latin: 1916-1968
Sr. Mary Augusta Murphy, M.A.
English: 1927-1929
1933-1935
Sr. Blandina Hitchen, M.A.
Latin: 1941-1974
Sr. Geraldine Thompson, Ph.D.
English: 1947-1976
Sr. St. Stephen O’Connor
Freshman Spanish: 1960-1974
Sr. Mary Agnes Murphy, M.A.
French: 1914-1940
Sr. St. Charles McSweeney
Latin: 1917-1922
Sr. Dominica Blake, M.A.
English: 1926-1961
Sr. Marie Thérèse Larochelle, Ph.D.
French: 1929-1971
Sr. Mary Bernita Young, M.A.
English: 1931-1949
Sr. St. Peter Gravel, M.A.
French: 1935-1949
Sr. Corinne Meraw, Ph.D.
French:1949-1968;
1974-1979
Sr. Eleanor Breen, Ph.D.
French: 1960-1974
Sr. Mary Arthur Knowlton, Ph.D.
English: 1962-1977
Sr. Mechtilde O’Mara, Ph.D.
Classics: 1970-
Sr. Ellen Leonard, Ph.D.
Theology: 1974-
Sr. Bernard Tuffy, M.A.
French: 1935-1941